I had visited Lyon briefly some years ago. While I enjoyed it and found many reasons to visit Lyon, I was unwell much of the time and my Lyon itinerary was disrupted. This time round, I spent 3 days in Lyon to make sure I had plenty of time to explore, and to (hopefully) answer the question “how many days in Lyon is best?”
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Table of Contents
If you have a day in Lyon
With just 24hours in Lyon I would focus your time on the old town. During your time in the Lyon old town you will experience:
A visit to the famous Renaissance traboules of the Lyon old town;
The pretty and oh so feminine Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière;
The Gallo-Roman Museum of Lyon;
Eat a traditional salade Lyonnaise.
Exploring the Renaissance traboules of the old town
The traboules are a quintessential part of Lyon. A series of internal passageways, they, like the buildings that contain them, date back to Renaissance times. There is an extensive network of traboules throughout the old town, although only a few are open to the public.
There are a number of ways to explore the traboules. For those who want to explore themselves, the Lyon tourist office has a map of the traboules, and Rick Steves highlights a number of them in his guidebook (you can purchase your copy below). The other way is to take a tour of the old town. I had visited the traboules on my previous visit, using the Rick Steves guidebook, so was looking for a different take this time round.
While there were a number of tours of the traboules and Lyon old town, I decided on a photography tour with an old town local. I chose the tour because it was well priced, and while I’m not a good photographer I thought it might be interesting to see the traboules through the eyes of the photographer (and maybe get some good photos). And I was not disappointed.
But it was the traboules I was most interested in, and they did not disappoint. We explored ancient courtyards, mysterious passageways and breathtaking spiral staircases – and were the only people there…….
Unfortunately the tour I took does not seem to be operating at the moment, but these two look reasonably close:
If you only have one day in Lyon and want to buy a silk scarf as a souvenir of your visit, there is a Brochier Soieries boutique just near the Gothic cathedral in the old town.
Whether you are taking a tour or not, it is worth arriving early to visit the old town and its traboules. By the time my tour finished at 11.00am the narrow streets were filling up with visitors and numerous groups from river cruise ships. You will appreciate the old town more with fewer people around.
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Exploring the upper part of the old town
After lunch, take the funicular up to the upper part of the old town where you will find more to explore.
First up is the very feminine Notre Dame de Fourvière basilica. The basilica is much “newer” than its Paris namesake and the Cathedral St Jean in the lower part of the old town having been built in 1870. Its interior reminds me very much of a beautiful piece of bone china – all pretty blues and lots of gold. It really is delightful and so light and bright.
There is also a fantastic terrace adjacent where you can look back over the city for a fabulous view.
I had visited the Gallo-Roman museum on my previous Lyon stay. It’s an excellent activity for a rainy day as the museum itself is quite extensive. It’s also a good activity for kids interested in history. The Roman arena is in good condition and quite unexpected in the centre of a major city.
Other things to do in the Lyon old town
If you want to spend more time in the old town, there are plenty of other things to see and do.
Down on the lower level of the old town the Gothic St Jean Cathedral has some pretty stained glass windows, and makes a stark distinction from the light and bright basilica up on the hill. It’s an easy spot to take a break and rest your feet without having to go to a café if you don’t want to buy anything. On the exterior side wall there are the remains of a Roman wall just to add to the history.
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Up on the upper level, the Lumière Museum is dedicated to the history of film and local residents, the Lumière Brothers. If you are interested in the history of film, or history more generally, this is definitely one to consider.
Throughout all of Lyon, but in the old town in particular, street murals adore the walls. Turn a corner and you never know what you will find….
Experience Lyonnais cuisine when you have one day in Lyon
With just 24 hours in Lyon you can still experience the best of traditional Lyonnais cuisine. Lyon is rightly famous for its food scene, and has a large number of Michelin star restaurants. There are members of my France Travel Planning Facebook group (you can join here if you aren’t a member) who visit Lyon just to eat. Despite all those Michelin stars, it is possible to eat very well in Lyon without booking a Michelin starred restaurant weeks in advance, or blowing the budget. If you have just 24 hours in Lyon I suggest you go for more budget friendly, but very authentic options (unless you really do want to dine Michelin star).
For lunch I suggest a traditional salade Lyonnaise. Staying in the old town after your traboule visit there are any number of casual eateries who offer this dish. If you are staying longer in Lyon or want to visit other parts of the city, I recommend the salade Lyonnaise in the very traditional Le Grand Café des Négociants. For the uninitiated, a salade Lyonnaise is a salad of mixed lettuce leaves, lardons (fried, smoked pork like bacon but chunkier), croutons – usually freshly fried, all topped with a poached egg. Because French salads are large, with some bread and a glass of local wine, a salade Lyonnaise makes a satisfying lunch.
After a relatively healthy lunch, I suggest going all out for dinner and experiencing a meal at a traditional bouchon. Bouchons are a traditional Lyon working people’s eatery. Because the food needed to be cheap and filling, bouchons feature largely secondary cuts and offal. They are a good place to try andouillettes, the traditional pork intestine sausage, if you are game.
Bouchons tend to have small menus and you may only be required to choose your main course (entrée). They are very meat heavy, so are not a good choice for vegetarians. Check the menu before deciding if a meal at a bouchon is right for you.
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I decided on the popular Café des Fédérations for my bouchon dinner. You should book this bouchon in advance. The menu was relatively simple – a five course fixed price menu, where I only needed to choose my main course (entrée) and dessert. I was interested to try oeufs meurettes for the first time as my first course. I had always viewed this dish of egg cooked in a red wine sauce with some suspicion, but honestly, it was delicious, and I will definitely order it again. Then a traditional Lyon sausage in brioche (a soft, sweetened bread) served with a salade Lyonnaise. Then braised pork cheek, a cheese course, and a praline tart to finish.
I was so full, but the food was so good…….
Best Lyon 2 day itinerary
Lyon in two days gives you a lot of options. Do my Lyon 24 hour itinerary on the first day, or mix and match activities across the two days. Even though it’s the third largest city in France (after Paris and Marseille), central Lyon is compact so it’s easy to trip around.
I’m starting my second day in Lyon with a walk. There are three main squares located on Presqu’île, linked together by pleasant dining and shopping streets. All three are a pleasant spot to sit and enjoy. Presqu’île is the island which sits between the Rhône and Sâone rivers. Where you start and finish your walk will depend on where you are staying and how you are planning on spending your afternoon. We’ll also add in some shopping today.
Place Terreaux is the most northern of the squares. It’s very open and quite busy. It features a large and quite beautiful fountain, which was originally destined for Bordeaux (until they didn’t have the money to pay for it). It is home to the Musée des Beaux-Arts – a former abbey. The Museum itself houses an eclectic collection ranging from Egyptian antiquities to Impressionist Art.
The Musée des Beaux-Arts is very popular in summer so if you are visiting during that time, make sure you book a timed entry ticket in advance.
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The middle square on my walk is the smallest and my favourite – Place des Jacobins. It has plenty of shade and is a real favourite with parents of young children – there always seem to be strollers and young ones everywhere.
Just near the Place des Jacobins are the Hotel Dieu (complete with roof top terrace recommended by many Facebook group members) and the Opera House which has its own popular, pretty garden to sit in.
The southern most square on my walk is the Place Bellecour. It is also the largest, and while it should be impressive, strangely it isn’t really. On its southern edge you will find the tourist office (where many tours depart from), decent toilets and a shady walk way with some pleasant places to sit. But the rest is just a large open area with a statue in the middle.
For lunch on your second day, I’m suggesting an early lunch at Les Halles de Paul Bocuse. Not to be confused with the fancy eponymous Michelin starred restaurant, Les Halles de Paul Bocuse is a large food hall, where you too can eat the food of Michelin starred chefs for a fraction of the price.
I decided on La Mère Brazier for my Les Halles lunch and was not disappointed. For significantly less than the price of a starter at the main restaurant, I dined like a queen on a three course lunch with a glass of house Champagne. Service was excellent and the place was buzzing – mainly with French people. Snails seemed to be popular as a starter among the locals, but I went for a classic of the region – jambon persillé – a terrine of ham and parsley. Then fish of the day. In my case this was haddock with a sauce vierge and perfectly cooked Mediterranean vegetables. The dish was light and bright and was certainly one of the culinary highlights of my visit to Lyon. Then a generous bowl of blackcurrant sorbet doused in local Marc de Bourgogne spirit.
A number of the restaurants also offered take away meals, and packaged foods to take home – perfect to gather supplies for a picnic in one of the squares or to take back to an apartment for an easy dinner.
You have two options for eating Paul Bocuse’s food at Les Halles de Paul Bocuse. There is a restaurant onsite – I noticed many diners enjoying seafood platters, as well as a patisserie for those looking for something more budget conscious.
Visit Beaujolais from Lyon
Seeing Lyon in two days, there is time for a short trip out of town. In the afternoon, I’m suggesting a tour of the Beaujolais wine region. Located just north of Lyon and south of the Burgundy wine region, Beaujolais is home of the distinctive, light red wine made with gamay grapes.
The tour I went on left from Place Bellecour, so if you are following my itinerary in the order presented, you may choose to have lunch closer to there and visit Les Halles de Paul Bocuse for dinner in the evening, or have an early lunch at Les Halles.
I chose a small group tour from Lyon to Beaujolais. We were only 5 people, so had plenty of room in the airconditioned, modern van.
After a quick trip out of town we arrived at our first stop. This was a winery attached to a very fancy looking country hotel. Before we got to taste some wine, we had work to do. In the basement of the wine tasting building was a guided tour and experiential museum to teach us about wine. But it was just a wander around to sniff and taste things – oh no, we had a series of tests about what we were experiencing to do as we went around. It was great fun and very educational about wine – it would be largely suitable for older children to do too.
Then we went outside to see the vineyards and explore the gorgeous manicured gardens.
Finally it was time to taste the wine and our guide led us around the tasting room to experience the different styles of Beaujolais wine. I must admit I always thought Beaujolais was just Beaujolais, the light red wine made with gamay. But no. We tasted whites, rosé and a number of different styles of reds. None of the tasting was obligatory, but it was quite possible to taste six different wines – very generous.
Our next stop was an altogether different experience. A small family owned producer in a gorgeously located village. What was particularly charming was that their better wines were named after their daughters.
This is a very good quality tour. You can book it here:
Shopping in Lyon
Two days in Lyon does give you time for some shopping. There are shops in around the squares I covered in my walk, as well as around the Bourse area (between Place Terreaux and Place des Jacobins). If you don’t want to take a wine tour, or have time for some more dedicated shopping time, there is a large Westfield shopping centre right near the Part Dieu railway station. There is a large Brochier Soieries shop and atelier just off Place Terreaux where you can not only buy locally made silk scarves, but you can also see the manufacturing process in action.
If you want to shop for French beauty brands I found two excellent pharmacies right near the Bourse, diagonally opposite the large Monoprix. They are also right near my recommended restaurant Le Grand Café des Négociants. Both were large, and unlike the popular Citypharma in Paris, there were no queues in either. In fact I walked into both and was able to be served immediately. The big Monoprix is also a good option for keenly priced clothing, including excellent children’s wear, as well as homewares and a big food area with ready made sandwiches and meals.
Lyon 3 day itinerary
With an extra day in Lyon, there are plenty of things to do.
There is a small, but good quality open air market on the banks of the Sâone opposite the old town. Visiting there on a sunny day in June the perfume of the perfectly ripe stone fruit was incredible – no supermarket at home could compete.
While you are around the Sâone area, there are river cruises you can take:
And if you need more Lyon food in your life, it comes as no surprise that there are many Lyon food tours to choose from.
Because Lyon is a major transport hub, there are day trips you can easily take from Lyon. In particular, I recommend a day trip by train to Beaune or Dijon. You can find out more about the delightful Burgundy town of Beaune in my post here >>
More day tours from Lyon
The Medieval town of Pérouges is a very popular day trip from Lyon:
Paul Bocuse in Lyon
It is impossible to talk about the Lyon food scene without discussing Paul Bocuse. His image (literally) looms large over the city.
In addition to Les Halles de Paul Bocuse, and his high end Michelin starred restaurant, the Paul Bocuse empire in Lyon includes a number of mid priced options. For my last night in Lyon I decided on Paul Bocuse’s Le Sud brasserie, which was ideally located near the Rhône River and just a few steps from Place Bellecour.
While I enjoyed my meal at Le Sud I didn’t love it. The restaurant was strangely lacking in atmosphere, and while the service was friendly and attentive, it was quite amateurish at times. Bringing me the wrong wine was forgivable the first time, but when I had to ask for the wine with my main course, and then to bring the wrong one, was not acceptable at all. The food itself was very nice – classic French food with a southern French accent, but in all honesty, I enjoyed my meal and the experience at La Mère Brazier in Les Halles more – at less than half the price.
Plan your trip to Lyon
Lyon is conveniently located between Paris and Provence and is easily reached by train from either.
You can book your train tickets to Lyon here >>
The main station in Lyon is the Part Dieu station. It is very busy, but easy to navigate. Do be careful of your surroundings and belongings as there are pickpockets in the station.
It is also possible to fly into Lyon from many European and non European countries. The airport is some distance from the city centre. An express shuttle takes around 30minutes. You can also use taxis, Ubers or private car services. For private car services I use and recommend Welcome Pickups. You can book your Welcome Pickups car here >>
On this trip to Lyon I stayed in the very traditional 4 star Hotel Les Grands Terreaux. It was ideally located, although the street it is located on is a bit underwhelming. You can book the Hotel Les Grands Terreaux here >>
On my previous stay, I enjoyed the location of the Hotel des Celestins, right near the Opera House and Place Bellecour. You can book the Hotel des Celestins here >>
Both my options are very well located to shops and eating options. In particular, Les Grands Terreaux is only 10minutes walk from the popular eating strip on rue Merceries.
For the 5 star option, the Hotel Intercontinental in the old Hotel Dieu is a well located popular choice. You can book it here >>
The Rick Steves guidebook has excellent coverage of Lyon, including detailed self guided tours.
Last update on 2026-10-15 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
